Parliament of the United Kingdom |
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| Long title | An Act for codifying the Law relating to the Sale of Goods. |
|---|---|
| Statute book chapter | 56 & 57 Vict. c.71 |
| Territorial extent | England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland |
| Dates | |
| Royal Assent | 20 February 1894 |
| Commencement | 1 January 1894[2] |
| Status: | |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Sale of Goods Act 1893 (56 & 57 Vict. c.71) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which regulated contracts in which goods are sold and bought. Its purpose was to define the rights and duties of the parties (where not expressly defined in the agreement), while specifically preserving the relevance of ordinary contractual principles.
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The Act was drafted by Sir Mackenzie Chalmers, who later drafted the Marine Insurance Act 1906. As noted by Lord Denning MR in The Mihalis Angelos [1971] 1 QB 164 he adopted a division between conditions and warranties in terms of contracts, propounded by Sir Frederick Pollock in his book Formation of Contracts. This was followed by Fletcher Moulton LJ in a celebrated dissent in Wallis, Son & Wells v Pratt & Haynes [1910] 2 KB 1003, 1012 and adopted by the House of Lords in [1911] AC 394.
The Sale of Goods Act 1893 is considered to be classic example of a codifying statute; that is, it draws on established judge-made common law principles and converts them into a more accessible statutory form. This Act of Parliament was so well-drafted that, when it was repealed and reenacted, the successor Sale of Goods Act 1979 was instantly familiar, sharing the same structure, phraseology and even numbering as the 1893 Act.
The whole of this Act, except for section 26, was repealed[3] on 1 January 1980,[4] subject to a number of savings.[5]